Telstra CEO Thodey replaced

Telstra chief executive David Thodey has announced his retirement after more than a decade at the company and almost six years as CEO.

Thodey announced his retirement this morning, with Telstra's chief financial officer and former AXA Asia Pacific Group CEO Andrew Penn revealed as his replacement from 1 May.

Thodey will assist with Penn's transition from 1 May until the end of the financial year, and will continue to be available to Telstra until late August.

Thodey joined Telstra in 2001 and stepped into the CEO role in 2009. During his time in the role Telstra value doubled from less than $40 billion to more than $80 billion.

Commenting on his time at Telstra, Thodey cited the completion of the NBN agreement with the government as having been of historical importance to Telstra.

Penn will receive a fixed renumeration of $2.3 million.

He joined Telstra in 2012 as chief financial officer and before that spent 20 years at AXA Asia Pacific. Penn played a key role in developing Telstra's longterm growth strategy, according to Telstra chairman Catherine Livingstone.

She also praised Thodey for his "passion for customer service" and "instigating true cultural change" at Telstra.

"It is testament to David Thodey that we were able to select the next chief executive from within the business," she stated.

NBN, acquisitions, ICT services growth

Negotiations over the NBN were a major issue throughout Thodey's tenure as CEO. This included an $11 billon deal in 2010 to migrate its networks to NBN Co, which was re-negotiated last December, as well as a $390 million contract with NBN Co announced in December last year.

Telstra's Network Applications & Services (NAS) business also grew to become a $1.9 billion operation, while various ICT business were acquired by Telstra along the way. This included the buyout of the $40 million O2 Networks business last year and 230-person unified communications integrator NSC Group the year before.

Early this year Telstra also announced the US$697 million buyout of Asian telecommunications operator Pacnet, which has 220 wholesale and retail partners in the region.

Thodey also presided over major job cuts, with 950 executive and middle management jobs removed in 2010.